Széchenyi Thermal Bath whirling around

Apparently my hotel was invaded by Red Hat Society who were yelling in German, I have enjoyed peaceful breakfast but this morning my eyes were assaulted by red which I have always found to be a violent color ugh. I do not know why they were so loud other than the were trying to attract attention to themselves to show red hat ladies have fun. I had picked out a table and put down my coffee and water then I went to get my breakfast. I came back to three people at my table had been raided and I got looks like what are you doing here and since there were no open tables, and I had been there first I sat down, and ignored them which was not easy to do. Then another one came to visit and proceeded to lean on my half of the table.

I had a totally awesome experience, visiting one of the  Thermal baths in Budapest was high on my list, today was my last full day in Budapest  I decided to visit Széchenyi Thermal Bath (pronounced Say-Chain-Eee) it is the largest medicinal bath in Europe I had bought a ticket at my hotel and headed out. a special line for if you already had a ticket  so I was able to get in quickly and was give a bracelet and a room to change in and keep belongings. The changing room was small with a bench it was opened with a little device on the bracelet so it was secure I had been worried about that so I did not bring a camera.   I then headed out to try one of the outdoor pools first. The first pool I went in had a whirlpool bath in the middle and it was lots of fun flying around when the jets were running and pushing you in circles. You just "flew" around and you had to be careful not to be pushed out the opening, I was surprised at the number of people with their phones in the bath only one appeared to have a good covering, people just wanted to record the fun. I was able to sit with on the water wit h my legs stretched I was laughing so hard. The water was amazing on my knees, and my left one that was swollen when I arrived had calmed down, after awhile I headed in doors and checked out some of the hot tubs some had warnings on the heat so I did not go in those.  I did try a few but decided to go back outside it was pretty cold about  55 F and it was even sprinkling rain at times but I just would not leave the pool for hours besides the fun I was having flying around it also felt amazing.  I finally left because the rain was getting heavier. I took the metro back to the hotel as the rain was getting heavier. 

I had a nice dinner at a Vietnamese Restaurant I ordered a grilled duck but it was cooked a bit too much for my liking. I had almost ordered a duck soup and I saw someone had it as I was leaving and it looked huge

Cricket outside the Bath

Széchenyi Thermal Bath

Photo from Bath website shows the whirlpool

Fisherman's Bastion 

Parliament

Statue Attila Jozsef 

Imre Nagy Hungarian Freedom Fighter

Shakespeare 500 Anniversary

Chain Bridge

the Danube Bend Esztergom and Szentendre

Basilica as seen from Sturovo Slovkia

Today I took a tour of Danube bend why is it called the Danube bend well looking at a map of Hungary you see between Esztergom and Szentendre the river turns sharply south in the direction of Budapest.  We first headed off to Esztergom it was a small group of 8 people and we went in a van.   They first did a small detour to Sturovo Slovakia the Germans blew up the bridge between Sturovo and Esztergom Hungary the bridge on their way out of town.,was rebuilt in 2001. You can go between the two countries with no passport, so the tour likes to point out that part.  We drove up to the hill to the Basilica and I was already thankful I was on a tour and did not have to walk.  The Primatial Basilica  of the Blessed Virgin Mary Assumed into Heaven and St Adalbert is the largest church in Hungary. After a tour of the Basilica we had some free time to explore I went outside and found this enormous statute depicting the Crowning of King St Stephen., who was born in Esztergom in 975.  

crossing The Maria Valeria Bridge

inside St Stephen Basilica

The Crowning of King St Stephen

 Esztergom

Next stop was Visegrad and the ruins of the medieval royal residence and up to the Citadel so we could have a view of the Danube.  We then headed towards Szentendre but we first made a stop for lunch at the Hunting lodge restaurant two Germans from the tour invited me to share a table with them and it made an interesting lunch conversation as one was East Germany. I decided to splurge and order lamb chops and a glass of wine.  We then continued on to Szentendre  which was a very pretty town. Szentendre is a we had a bit of a walking tour as our guide explained where things were and then we had almost 2 hours to explore on our own. There were quite a lot of museums in Szentendre, I rambled up alleyway and into churches I climbed up some steps to a pretty part of town and discovered the smallest synagogue in the world Szanto Memorial House and Synagogue. It is a beautiful memorial to the family who created it and some of whom were transported to the death camps in 1944

Visegrad Royal residence

yummy

up the stairs to the Synagogue

Szanto Memorial House and Synagogue

City Park and the Budapest Zoo

 I was able to use my 48 hour pass this morning to take the bus to the first stop which is where Hero's Square is I noticed an area the other morning that I wanted to explore. I got off it was a gloomier day then yesterday even.  I walked back behind the Square and found the City Park.  There was a very interesting statue of  Anonymous by Miklos Ligeti; the haunting statue honors a man who nobody knows.

The Statue of Anonymous

Jak Chapel

The Hungarian Agricultural Museum part of Vajdahunyad Castle

Vajdahunyad Castle

I made a spur of the moment decision to go to the zoo that was in the City park and I am so dang happy I did. I had the great opportunity to see the 2 koala bears taken down from their tree and they were checked with a little monitor and had their ears checked and their backs brush they were so sweet. I was thrilled and then I went to see the ring-tail lemurs which are also a fave of mine and there were three of them in on the loose in this glass tropical like room. There were benches and I spent quite awhile sitting just watching them in action they were loads of fun. There were others behind glass and they were watching the ones on the loose like hey when is my turn.   The whole zoo had very colorful displays and I enjoyed looking at them.  I missed the bus back and I started the trip back to the hotel it was almost 2 miles and they had benches along the way and I was able to stop and sit I was so sore though each time it was harder to get up. I was hoping to find something to eat but did not see any other restaurants and  I saw a bakery and walked in and picked up a salami with veggies on a really nice seeded roll and it cost about  1.50 so cheap and yummy. 

  

ruffed lemur

new male Mangabey